Regular Season (NFL)

2008-08-24T13:15:29Z

CALQL8: Updated sentence about Thanksgiving's third game.

The '''[[National Football League]] (NFL) [[season (sport)|season]]''' begins the weekend after [[Labor Day (United States)|Labor Day]]. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon. Exceptions are [[NBC Sunday Night Football|one game each week being played on Sunday night]], and another game being played on Monday night, known as ''[[Monday Night Football]]''. For the last few weeks of the regular season (after the [[NCAA football]] regular season has concluded), the league typically schedules one or two additional nationally-televised games on Saturday or Thursday evenings.

In addition, the [[Dallas Cowboys]] and the [[Detroit Lions]] each traditionally host a game on [[Thanksgiving Classic|Thanksgiving Day]]. Since [[2006 NFL season|2006]], a third game has been scheduled for that same day in [[primetime]].

==History==
{| align="right" border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable" style="margin: 0 1em 1em 1em; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
|-
!colspan="2"|Number of regular season games per team
|-
|1935-1936
|12 games
|-
|1937-1942
|11 games
|-
|1943-1945
|10 games
|-
|1946
|11 games
|-
|1947-1960
|12 games
|-
|1961-1977
|14 games
|-
|1978-1981
|16 games
|-
|1982
|9 games (strike)
|-
|1983-86
|16 games
|-
|-
|1987
|15 games (strike)
|-
|1988-present
|16 games
|}

In its early years after 1920, the NFL did not have a set schedule, and teams played as few as eight and as many as sixteen games, many against independent professional, college or amateur teams. From 1926 through 1946, they played from eleven to fifteen games per season, depending on the number of teams in the league. From 1947 through 1960, each NFL team played 12 games per season. In 1960, the [[American Football League]] began play and introduced a balanced schedule of 14 games per team over a fifteen week season, in which each of the eight teams played each of the other teams twice, with one bye week. Competition from the new league caused the NFL to expand and follow suit with a fourteen-game schedule in 1961. From 1961 through 1977, the NFL schedule consisted of fourteen regular season games played over fourteen weeks. Opening weekend typically was the weekend after [[Labor Day (United States)|Labor Day]], or even two weekends after Labor Day. Teams played six, or even seven exhibition games. In 1978, the league changed the schedule to include sixteen regular season games and four exhibition games. From [[1978]]-1989, the sixteen games were played over sixteen weeks.

In 1990, the NFL introduced a bye-week to the schedule. Each team played sixteen regular season games over seventeen weeks. One week during the season, on a rotating basis, each team would have the weekend off. As a result, opening weekend was moved up to Labor Day weekend. The NFL season included two bye-weeks and sixteen games in 1993, but the league returned to a seventeen week schedule the following year.

Since the 2002 season, the league has scheduled a nationally televised regular season [[NFL Kickoff game|kickoff game]] on the Thursday night prior to the first Sunday of NFL games to kick off the season. The first one, featuring the [[San Francisco 49ers]] and the [[New York Giants]], was held on [[September 5]] [[2002]] largely to celebrate [[New York City]]'s resilience in the wake of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/recap/NFL_20020905_SF@NYG |title=Niners edge Giants on late field goal 16-13 |last=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=NFL.com |date=[[2002-09-05]] |accessdate=2006-11-17}}</ref>. Since 2004, the NFL has indicated that the opening game will normally be hosted by the defending Super Bowl champions as the official start of their title defense.

==Formula==
Currently, each team's 16-game regular season schedule is set using a pre-determined formula:

[[Image:NFL Schedule Sample.PNG|thumb|right|386px|A sample scheduling grid, with a single team's (the Browns) schedule highlighted. Under this hypothetical schedule, the Browns played the teams in blue twice and the teams in yellow once, for a total of 16 games]]
*Each team plays the other three teams in their division ''twice'': once at home, and once on the road (six games).
*Each team plays the four teams from another division within its own conference ''once'' on a rotating three-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
*Each team plays the four teams from a division in the other conference ''once'' on a rotating four-year cycle: two at home, and two on the road (four games).
*Each team plays ''once'' against the other teams in its conference that finished in the same place in their own divisions as themselves, not counting the division they were already scheduled to play: one at home, one on the road (two games).
{{clr}}
This schedule guarantees that all teams will play each other at least once every four years, and will play in every other team's stadium at least once every eight years. Prior to 2002 (when the league expanded to 32 teams) the league used similar scheduling rubrics, though they were adjusted for the number of teams and divisions. From 1970-1994, and again from 1999-2001, the league did not have equal numbers of teams in every division, which allowed for unbalanced schedules. The only time since the merger that the league has been completely "balanced" has been from 1995-1998 (with 6 divisions of 5 teams each) and since 2002 (with 8 divisions of 4 teams each). Additionally, prior to 2002, teams always played four of the teams from a division in the ''other'' conference on a rotating basis, but not their own; meaning that while an AFC team would be more likely to play each NFC team on a regular basis, they could go far longer without playing every team in their own conference. For example, between 1970 (when the leagues merged) and 2002 (when the current schedule was introduced) the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins played only 6 times; including a stretch (1976-1997) where they met only once in 22 seasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.footballdb.com/teamvsteam.html?tm=10&opp=17|title=Denver Broncos Vs. Miami Dolphins|publisher=The Football Database|accessdate=2007-09-22}}</ref> Under the current system, they are guaranteed to meet at least every third year. Also, the Buffalo Bills have never hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at any point in history. Every game between the two teams has been a home game for Tampa Bay.

{{clr}}
For the 2007 season, the assignments were:

<div style="float:left; width:48%;">
'''Intraconference'''<br>
*[[AFC East]] vs. [[AFC North]]
*[[AFC West]] vs. [[AFC South]]
*[[NFC East]] vs. [[NFC North]]
*[[NFC West]] vs. [[NFC South]]
</div><div style="float:right; width:48%;">
'''Interconference'''<br>
*[[AFC East]] vs. [[NFC East]]
*[[AFC North]] vs. [[NFC West]]
*[[AFC South]] vs. [[NFC South]]
*[[AFC West]] vs. [[NFC North]]
</div>
<br clear="all" />

{{clr}}
For the 2008 season, the assignments will be:

<div style="float:left; width:48%;">
'''Intraconference'''<br>
*[[AFC East]] vs. [[AFC West]]
*[[AFC North]] vs. [[AFC South]]
*[[NFC East]] vs. [[NFC West]]
*[[NFC North]] vs. [[NFC South]]
</div><div style="float:right; width:48%;">
'''Interconference'''<br>
*[[AFC East]] vs. [[NFC West]]
*[[AFC North]] vs. [[NFC East]]
*[[AFC South]] vs. [[NFC North]]
*[[AFC West]] vs. [[NFC South]]
</div>
<br clear="all" />

==Regular season games played outside of the U.S.==

To date, only two NFL regular season games have been played outside of the U.S. The first was the 2005 game between the [[Arizona Cardinals]] and the [[San Francisco 49ers]], which was played in [[Mexico City]].

In October 2006, NFL club owners approved a plan to stage up to two international regular season games per season beginning in 2007 and continuing through at least [[2011]]. <ref name="internationalPlan"> {{cite news | url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9752443 | title=Resolution approved for international games | publisher=[http://www.nfl.com/ NFL.com] | date=2006-10-24 | accessdate=2007-01-11}}</ref> The [[New York Giants]] and the [[Miami Dolphins]] played at [[Wembley Stadium]] in [[London]] on [[October 28]] [[2007]] for the first of these games.<ref name="LondontoHost">{{cite news | url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9971024 | title=London to host 2007 regular-season game | publisher=[http://www.nfl.com/ NFL.com] | date=2007-01-16 | accessdate=2007-02-10}}</ref><ref> {{cite web
|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2751440
|title=Dolphins will host Giants in a game in London
|publisher=ESPN.com
|date=[[2007-02-01]]
|accessdate=2007-02-02
}}
</ref>

The longterm plan is to have two international games played every year, on a 16-year rotating schedule that would guarantee that each team would get to play twice over that span: once as the home team and once as the away team.

The [[Buffalo Bills]] will play eight games through 2012 in [[Toronto, Ontario]]. The Bills will play five regular season games (one each season) and three preseason games (one every other season) through 2012 in the [[Rogers Centre]]. The Bills first of eight games in [[Toronto]] was a preseason game against the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] on August 14, 2008.[http://www.nfl.com/preseason/story?id=09000d5d807905e5&template=without-video&confirm=true]

==References==
<references/>

{{NFL}}

[[Category:National Football League]]

http://www.nfl.com/preseason/story?id=09000d5d807905e5&template=without-video&confirm=true

Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Regular Season (NFL)